Ultrasound imaging is a medical imaging technique for imaging organs and soft tissues in a human body. Ultrasound imaging uses real time, non-invasive high frequency sound waves to produce a two-dimensional (2D) image and/or a three-dimensional (3D) image.
Uterine abnormalities are associated with an increased risk of miscarriage, infertility, premature birth, and caesarean delivery, among other things. Ultrasound imaging may be helpful as part of a routine gynecology examination and before starting in vitro fertilization to evaluate the uterus for possible anatomical abnormalities. For example, ultrasound imaging may be used to identify congenital malformations, such as septate, bicornuate, unicornuate, uterus didelphys, and the like. As another example, ultrasound imaging can be used to identify tumors, such as myomas, among other things.
Conventional transvaginal 2D sonography has been shown to be a good screening tool for uterine abnormalities. However, the ability to distinguish between different types of abnormalities using 2D sonography is limited and operator dependent. For example, it is typically not possible to obtain the coronal view of the uterus because of the position of the uterus and limitations associated with positioning a 2D ultrasound probe transvaginally. Moreover, the uterine cavity cannot be fully documented in a single ultrasound image of a 2D scan. An ultrasound operator may use 3D ultrasound to reconstruct parts of the uterine cavity within the coronal plane. However, selecting a sectional plane in 3D image data may not illustrate the full uterine cavity because the uterine cavity is typically curved.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with some aspects of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.